


What Happens on Asgard

by sparkly_butthole



Series: MCU Kink Bingo [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Asgardian Festival of Life, Asgardian Liquor, Bucky Barnes Gets More Than Just a Hug, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Everyone's happy with the outcome, Fuck Or Die, Light Angst, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Public Sex, Sex Pollen, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 14:46:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15665346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkly_butthole/pseuds/sparkly_butthole
Summary: Thor invites the Avengers to a festival on Asgard. What could possibly go wrong?





	What Happens on Asgard

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work for my second kink bingo card, space B2 - Fuck or Die. Though it's more like Die or Fuck. Hmm.
> 
> Thanks to [NurseDarry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NurseDarry) for beta. All Hail!

Asgard is the most incredible thing in existence, Steve is sure of it. The bifrost stretches out in front of them, across the bluest water he’s ever seen, water dancing with creatures unheard of on Earth save for in fairy tales. The forests surrounding the city are verdant, splendid, covered in flowers the color of which he hadn’t even known existed. He fancies he can smell them even from here. And the city itself is teeming with life, people who are jubilant in a way that suggests it’s not just today’s celebration making them happy; it’s in their blood, this feeling, this joy. 

 

The other Avengers stand next to him, as besotted by the scene as he is, though some of them try to hide it. Clint stares openly, mouth agape, eyes popping damn near out of his head. Natasha, quietly standing next to Clint, gives him an unreadable look, then looks back at the city. Nothing but the cadence of her breath and pace of her heart gives her away, but Steve knows her well enough by now to know she’s affected. Stark looks like he’s been dropped into Alice’s Wonderland, and Bucky has a smile on his face that Steve hasn’t seen since before the war. Really, though, how can one not fall in love with the sight? It’s like standing in the physical manifestation of a dream. A good dream, for once. Heaven knows they spend enough time standing in nightmares.

 

Bucky, the first to make noise, actually  _ squeaks _ . “How?” he asks in a hilariously unmasculine voice, and Steve doesn’t need to ask what he’s talking about.

 

“The universe is a strange place,” Vision remarks. “It’s bigger than humanity could ever guess at. I suggest you all enjoy it while you can.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t wanna go back to Earth after this,” Tony complains. “Can’t we just stay here, O Mighty God of Thunder? Jesus, no wonder you’re so disgustingly happy all the time.”

 

“No, my friends. I’m sorry. Even if it weren’t against the laws of my people, the Earth needs its mightiest heroes. But rejoice in the celebration, and soak up the next few days! I am certain you will be sent home feeling much better than when you arrived. The Celebration of Life is meant to heal you of whatever ails you.”

 

Charmed by Thor’s speech, Steve ducks his head and smiles. They follow the god out onto the bifrost, already feeling lighter in step.

 

***

 

The celebration is in full swing by the time they reach the city proper. Several pits are set up for sparring, where warriors of both sexes battle to beat their peers. Young maidens dance around fires set in big steel bowls, while the men watch them with stars in their eyes, drinking glass after glass of wine. When Tony tries to grab a carafe to pour himself a glass, Thor sets a hand on his wrist, discouraging him. 

 

“What? I can’t have any alcohol? What kind of celebration is this, a kid’s party? I mean, obviously not, but clearly, we’re being kicked over to the kiddies’ table. You can’t just, like, throw this in my face and then tell me no. That’s like… that’s like...” He scrambles for a simile, throwing up his hands. “That’s like taking a sex addict to a sex store and telling them they’re not allowed to have sex. Or even touch anything. Literally.”

 

At first, Thor tries to get a word in edgewise, but then wisely decides to wait until Tony’s done with his tantrum. “Do not worry your pretty little head, my friend! There is a much less potent form of drink. I’ve asked for the servants to bring you some. But trust me when I say this is too strong for you.” Thor claps Stark on the back, sending him staggering a good foot forward. But he seems mollified. “However,” Thor continues, pointing to Bucky and Steve, “the two of you are free to imbibe whatever drinks tickle your fancy!”

 

“Because of the serum?” Steve guesses.

 

“Indeed, Captain. Join the celebration, come on!” Thor turns to Natasha, offering a hand. “I’d love to watch you join the young ladies around the fire here, beautiful Black Widow!”

 

Natasha raises one perfectly manicured eyebrow and gives him an incredulous look. “You must have a death wish,” she says, voice tinged with amusement.

 

“You do not wish to dance?”

 

She touches his hand briefly. “I’m good, but thank you for offering.” 

 

Thor gives her his winning smile. “As you wish, my lady. But please, take part in the festivities, I beg you. There is much more to do inside.”

 

Right, inside! Steve’s been so busy staring wide-eyed at the food and drink, dancing and sparring outside, that he’d entirely forgotten that there was more indoors. 

 

They enter the palace, Steve smiling from ear to ear. Tony matches his grin, but Bucky just rolls his eyes. Steve sticks out his tongue and Bucky gives him the metal finger. They both snort at each other before turning forward to a sight Steve will never be able to forget. 

 

It’s like he walked into Dwarrowdelf, the place is so large. Lined with columns thicker than any redwood back on Earth, painted in frescoes the same brilliance in color as the flowers outside, echoing with the voices of the Asgardian elite, the place is beyond his wildest imagination. It even beats what’s outside, and a few moments ago, Steve had thought that impossible. He knows his mouth looks like it could capture an ocean’s worth of fish, but who fucking cares? 

 

And Bucky’s staring at him with what Steve thinks is amusement, looking cautiously happy. That’s worth more than anything Asgard has to offer, because Bucky deserves the world after all he’s been through. They share a soft smile as they continue down the main aisle to the throne.

 

It’s all business, though, once Steve is introduced to the Warriors Three, Frigga, and Odin himself. Steve bends down onto one knee before Odin chuckles and smacks Steve’s outer thigh with his cane. Steve clenches his jaw as Bucky snorts behind him.

 

“Stand up, son. I don’t require such behavior from you, any of you.”

 

“It’s still an honor to meet you,” Steve says, ignoring the feeling of Bucky’s eyeballs on the back of his head. Judging. The grumpy old bastard is judging, and happier than he’s been in an age. Steve’ll take it, no matter how annoying it is. Hell, he’ll do a breakdance in the middle of the festival, in front of  _ everybody _ , if it makes Bucky happy. 

 

“Alright, alright. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, son. I’ve heard much about you these past three years. Thor speaks very highly of you, and a friend of his is a friend of mine. But please, enjoy yourselves. Midgardians are a rare treat around here. You’ll likely find yourselves the center of attention this fine evening.”

 

Like a herd of nosy but very shy goats, the group moves as one. They walk deeper into the palace proper, learning about the paintings from Thor as he gives them a tour, listening to a neverending litany of battles and war and court shenanigans as they walk through the palace gardens, dining hall, and residential areas. As a history buff, Steve is enraptured, though by the end, he can tell his teammates are jonesing for some of the more exciting activities. 

 

“So this is my home, friends!” Thor sweeps his arms out to the side when they make it back to the main hall, gesturing to everything around them. “Go! Enjoy yourselves!”

 

“We don’t have to stay as a group, you know,” Bucky suggests to Steve,  _ sotto voce,  _ as he’s eyeing the feast in front of him _. _

 

“I suppose,” Steve admits. “I don’t know about drinking, myself, but you’re more than welcome to get as drunk as you want, considering you haven’t been able to do so since…” he trails off, wincing.

 

Bucky gives him an unreadable look. “Yeah. Since. Come outside with me, though. Let’s watch some of the dames dance by the firelight.”

 

“They’re called ladies now, Buck. Or women.”

 

“Not these ones.”

 

Steve just rolls his eyes as he wraps an arm around his best friend, the way they used to when they were young. The way men are no longer allowed to do. “Yeah, these ones could probably kick your ass to hell and back. Better that you don’t call them anything.” 

 

It’s getting late outdoors, twilight coming on fast. The others go their separate ways while Bucky grabs a glass of liquor, and even though Steve thinks that’s a horrible idea, he stays quiet and lets Bucky do as he pleases. It’s so rare to find a smile - or at least one that’s not sarcastic - on the man’s face. 

 

“Do you know that Stark told me I’m made of ‘approximately two trillion fucktons of salt?’ What the fuck does that even mean?” Bucky asks, mystified, as they sit in the coziest armchairs Steve has ever had the pleasure of sitting in,  _ holy shit. _

 

“Uh… I think it means you’re… uh... “ 

 

How does Steve explain the concept of ‘salty’? 

 

“Bitter?” he tries. 

 

“But that’s the opposite of salty. Or something that is definitely not salty. I don’t get it.” 

 

“You’re right. I think it’s more complicated than that? But that’s kind of my impression.”

 

Bucky considers this a moment, then nods his head sagely. “I’m just saying, why not outright say ‘bitter’ if what you mean is bitter, and leave salt for… there’s no behavior for salt, dammit,” he says, and takes a huge swig of the drink. Steve can’t help but laugh as Bucky coughs so hard he nearly drops his glass, taking the drink from his best friend’s hand. 

 

“Christ, what is _ in _ that stuff?” Bucky asks.

 

“I imagine exactly what’s advertised,” Steve says, feeling himself smile so wide an army could march through his damn mouth with room to spare. God, it’s good to see Bucky so happy, so… normal. He’s been a surly old grandpa since he came to the Tower almost a half-year ago, cold and feral, and yet everything Steve had ever wanted to see in his life.

 

“Ha ha, very funny. You’ve gotta try this shit, Steve-o. Seriously.”

 

“That’s a resounding no from me, Buck. But you grabbed it. Now you gotta drink it all.”

 

Bucky grunts noncomittally, but grabs the glass from Steve’s big paw and downs the rest of it in one go.

 

“There,” he says, wiping his mouth with his arm, clearly satisfied. And hurting, if the tears in his eyes are anything to go by.

 

_ You really haven’t changed, have you? Despite how you hide the person you are inside. Scared to come out. You’re still my Bucky down to your marrow. _

 

Steve wishes more than anything that he could ease Bucky’s troubles, could undo the harm that’s been done to him. All he can do, realistically, is be his friend and try to get them into trouble like they did when they were young and naive. It’s his way of forgetting, too, how far they’ve come, how broken they really are.

 

A comfortable silence descends upon them, Bucky basking in the high of Asgardian alcohol, Steve relaxing quietly next to him. They’re in front of a large group of mingling people, who seem to be debating what the ‘obstacle course’ consists of this year. One huge man - Steve wouldn’t want to fight the bastard, that’s for damn sure - starts complaining that they haven’t even unveiled the damn thing yet, and it’s  _ time for the show. _

 

Steve’s ears perk up despite himself.  _ Obstacle course? _

 

“Hey, Buck?”

 

“Mmm?” Bucky asks, eyes closed and face as relaxed as Steve’s ever seen it.

 

“We should try the obstacle course.”

 

“The whatsit?”

 

“I’ve been listening… apparently you do it in pairs, to see how well you work together. We should totally do it.”

 

“Uh… I mean, I guess?” 

 

“C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

 

Bucky looks at him strangely, but stands up nonetheless. “You and I have very different definitions of fun.”

 

Steve raises an eyebrow and stares at him, not believing it for a second. “That’s bullshit and you know it. Now c’mon. Let’s see if we can beat this so-called ‘obstacle course.’”

 

Bucky waves in front of him, _ lead the way, _ and Steve practically bounces up and down, excited to see how well they work together now. 

 

“Where can we find this course?” Steve asks one of the men.

 

“Oh, the two of you? Really?” The guy looks at them like they just said they wanted to fillet a Frost Giant, and he would pay good money to watch them fail.

 

“Well, yeah,” Steve says, not miffed at all. 

 

Bucky, though... “You listen here, guy. We’re more than capable of beating your… Asgardian... stuff,” he says, puffing out his chest a little bit and swaying on his feet while he’s at it. Steve has to stifle a laugh at the sight.

 

“Sure,” the man says easily, definitely looking like he’s about to place a very large bet. “It’s that way. Go down the walkway around the corner, to your left. The guards there will sign you in. They’re just now finishing it up,” he adds.

 

“Let’s go,” Steve says excitedly. 

 

“Is fighting all you know how to do?” Bucky groans as Steve leads the way.

 

“Not at all. I can also, uh… I mean, this isn’t fighting, anyway. It’s problem-solving. And we were the goddamn best at that, weren’t we?”

 

“Once upon a time,” Bucky admits.

 

“Well, maybe if we show the others what we’re capable of together, they’ll let you on the team full time.”

 

Steve knows that Bucky would never admit how badly he wants that. To use his skills for good, to try to atone for what he’s done in the past, what’s been done to him, well… Steve knows Bucky can’t resist this when he puts it that way, especially since the team might be watching.

 

Of course, Bucky knows Steve well enough to know when he’s being manipulated. “You little shit,” he sighs, catching up to walk on Steve’s right. The fading light of the Asgardian star lights up Bucky’s arm, giving it the appearance of silver flame. It’s beautiful, even if Bucky doesn’t think so, because it means he’s alive. Steve had thought he’d lost his best friend once, but that had turned out not to be the case, and he doesn’t plan to take that for granted. Maybe one day he’ll get Bucky to see the beauty in it, too.

 

They sign up with a man even bigger than the one Steve had seen earlier. He’s as big as a fucking  _ house _ , if Steve had to estimate - and that’s only a  _ tad _ bit hyperbolic. He has to crane his neck to see the man’s surprisingly kind face, and Steve is far from a small man himself. Bucky, an inch shorter than him and salty besides, doesn’t bother trying, just talks to the man’s incredible pecs, which Bucky would probably call ‘tits,’ if only to fuck with Steve.

 

The obstacle course is around another corner and down a set of stairs. Participants head to the left, underneath an awning and then down another set of stairs, while the spectators sit on benches to the right, looking down into a small arena. Steve catches sight of Natasha in the stands just as he’s about to disappear down the stairs. She waves at him, wearing a smile Steve can only interpret as gleeful. And on Natasha, that’s… concerning. He waves back, then follows Bucky.

 

The course itself is no problem; he’d think it a joke, except that plenty of the participating couples fail it. Several drop into the mud pit beneath the Tarzan ropes. Many of the women - and there are a lot - don’t make it to the top of the wall. Steve feels kind of bad, considering that most women just don’t have the upper arm strength for such a climb, but then reconsiders his stance when he sees one team work together and creatively figure it out. Then he remembers - that’s the point of this challenge. How well do they work together as a team? 

 

Well, Asgard is about to find out. 

 

They fly through it in record time. Alone, they could’ve likely beaten it, but together, they zoom through it. Even Thor, who is overseeing the competition, seems impressed by their teamwork.

 

_ Yeah, we still got it. _

 

After everyone has either completed or failed the course, they find Thor congratulating those who passed. Steve’s curious about what the prize is, but Thor’s eyes shine as he explains that they’re not finished just yet. Bucky cocks his head to the side and looks at Steve like he’s exasperated as hell, like he just wants to get back to his drink,  _ dammit, this is supposed to be a celebration, Steve, why the hell do I let you talk me into these things _ , but Steve just smirks at him and follows Thor and the other competitors. Bucky sighs behind him and then runs to catch up. 

 

“So what comes next?” he asks, clearly bored with the entire ordeal.

 

“I guess they give us some kind of pill to get us a little punch-drunk. And then we go through the… what’d he call it? ‘The Trial of Commitment?’”

 

“Sounds pretty lame,” Bucky offers, and Steve slaps his arm.

 

“It won’t when you see what the trial is,” he replies cryptically, and clearly, Bucky has no idea what to do with that. Truthfully, Steve’s not even sure what all it entails; he just knows there’s a waterfall and a jump and a race to the surface involved. His style of fun, and Bucky’s too, no matter what he claims.

 

“Steve, what in the hell did you get us into?”

 

“You’ll see,” he says with a sly grin. Then they’re standing at the place where the trial begins, and for the third time that evening, Steve is absolutely blown away by the sight.

 

They’ve arrived at a large gazebo overlooking the waterfall. It’s not a particularly high waterfall, but the lake at the bottom of it swirls with eddies, looking dangerous. The city of Asgard is above and behind them, the light from hundreds of candles twinkling in the water below. The darkness has truly arrived now, but there’s enough light to see that the water is clear, untouched by pollution or the hands of men. Even Bucky takes in a sharp breath beside him.

 

“I’m never gonna stop dreaming about this place,” he says to Steve, under his breath.

 

“You and me both, pal.”

 

He’s not sure he understands the rules, how this is supposed to work. What will they have to do, and who wins? Not that it matters - Steve’s up for the challenge any day, and Bucky, idiot that he is, would follow Steve into the jaws of hell itself - has done so, in fact. That he continues to do it, that he genuinely  _ wants _ to do it, is a mystery to Steve, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Thor, standing at the edge of the gazebo, claps his hands. “Friends!” he yells. “You will now undergo the Trial of Commitment! As most of you know - save our lovely couple from Midgard - this is the trial you must pass in order to wed on this fine evening. You may, of course, back out now, for it is a dangerous thing you must do. Any other day, you may consummate your betrothal. No one here or elsewhere would judge you for backing out. Take the pills, though, and your fate is sealed, one way or the other.”

 

An Asgardian courtesan hands out tiny pills to each of them. They look like little specks of stardust. Steve swallows his dry and then stands to wait for the competition to start. The adrenaline is pumping through his veins now, making him shake the same way he does right before a battle.

 

A few - couples? - walk back up the stairs. Steve watches them go with a frown. Why would a challenge like this have anything to do with betrothal? He and Bucky certainly aren’t getting married, are they? 

 

_ Are _ they?

 

He squints at Bucky standing next to him, and Bucky squints right back. Steve feels… weird. Like the ground is slowly undulating. He’s hot, too hot, wanting nothing more than to disrobe right here and now. The only problem with that would be… well, he’d be naked. And things south of the belt are taking a definite interest in the proceedings. Hmm.

 

He giggles, wondering what the hell was in that pill. Wondering what the hell is even going on right now, only knowing that he feels better than he has in… ages. Since before the ice, before the war. Before Bucky left for London on that fateful night, and he signed up to become a science experiment. Before Erskine, or what he likes to call B.E.

 

Whatever’s going on, he’s glad his best friend is by his side. 

 

And they’re gonna win this challenge… whatever it is.

 

“Now you must all line up and prepare yourselves for the jump,” Thor continues. “You’ll have ten minutes to swim to the river banks. If you don’t come up by then, that means you did not please the gods enough. It is likely that you will lose your life in that case,” he says with far too much glee, making Steve chuckle once more. Any other time, he might hide the fact that he finds that kind of thing funny. Captain America shouldn’t be partial to gallows humor, but being in a world war changes one’s outlook on those sorts of things. Still, it looks like the pills lower inhibition, too. “Good luck to you all!” Thor declares.

 

Steve bounces on his toes in his haste to get in line, grabbing Bucky by the hand. Thor smiles at them, a proud look on his face. His teammates sure seem to be acting weird tonight, but then, Steve has no idea what to expect from a night like this. It’s their first trip to Asgard; they have a right to let loose, and Thor is a mystery from top to bottom anyway.

 

The first two couples disappear into the water and never return. Thor proclaims their loss - their sacrifice - in the tones of a man saddened by their brave deaths, but proud of what they’d accomplished. Steve’s not sure what to make of that; all he knows is that he and Bucky won’t lose their lives down there. They’re too good together. He’s forgotten pretty much anything other than that fact: the two of them can beat anything.

 

When it’s his and Bucky’s turn, they walk down the short hill to the top of the falls, removing all clothing but Bucky’s adorable Captain America boxers and Steve’s plain black briefs. Thor encourages them to hold hands as they jump. Bucky shrugs and grabs Steve’s hand, then tricks him by pulling his hand back and pushing him off the ledge. Steve laughs all the way to the bottom. 

 

He feels rather than sees Bucky’s splash nearby. They try to swim toward the shore, but a problem immediately becomes apparent. Steve’s sense of direction seems to have abandoned him entirely, which hasn’t happened to him since B.E. He’s oriented to Bucky but not much else; the splash of the water pushes him and he’s forced under even further.

 

What happens next is strange, dream-like. Steve thinks maybe he’s fallen asleep under the water, like the moon itself is looking through his eyes, seeing underneath the water it can’t penetrate from the surface. He thinks maybe he’s lost his mind entirely… either that or he’s dying. Losing oxygen bit by bit, his life force finally letting go. Somehow he feels at peace with that. An understanding wraps him up like a blanket: The rules down here are different, and their only job is to be with each other.

 

Bucky’s still down here in the depths with him, and he does  _ not _ seem happy about the prospect of dying here. He’s struggling, kicking, bubbles of oxygen floating to the surface from his mouth. Steve swims to him, trying to get him to relax and work with him as the teammates they are, but Bucky’s having none of that, and it only makes him fall deeper under the surface. 

 

Steve starts to panic then, wanting nothing but Bucky by his side, whether he dies down here or not, so he grabs him by the ankle and pulls as hard as he can. Bucky floats into his arms, eyes wide and wild. Steve slowly brings his fingers to Bucky’s lips,  _ shhh. It’s all okay, _ he mouths, but Bucky’s shaking his head; they’re too far down now. Nothing can save them, but then again, nothing is quite as it seems down here in the depths, either. All Steve wants now is  _ Bucky _ , for them to face whatever’s coming together _.  _

 

Bucky slowly stops fighting it, grabbing on to Steve, wrapping his arms around him and laying his head on Steve’s shoulder. Several heartbeats pass, the best of Steve’s entire life. Steve can feel Bucky lose consciousness, become dead weight in his arms; that’s okay, because it’ll only be a couple seconds before he’s gone, too, and at least they’re together. 

 

And then Steve figures he must be dead already, because a figure dives into the water next to them. At first, he thinks it must be the next couple, that the Asgardians have given up on the two of them, but no - the figure is alone, and swims straight toward them. He - she? It? - is ethereal, shining with the light of the Asgardian moon behind it, an androgynous humanoid that Steve thinks maybe is a god. A god of gods, one of Thor’s own. A legend, he knows, though he doesn’t understand how he knows that. It reaches out a hand. Steve stares at it for a moment, thoughtful, then grabs onto it, curious as to where this part of the journey takes them.

 

The next thing he’s aware of, he and Bucky are on the shore, light-headed and stumbling but blessedly alive. The peace Steve felt underneath the waterfall hasn’t left him, however. If anything, it’s gained strength, filling him with light so bright he feels he might burst. Bucky feels it, too, he can tell. His eyes sparkle, and Steve thinks, for the first time, that he looks beautiful. Not handsome, not an objective acknowledgement of Bucky’s attractiveness, no. He’s  _ beautiful _ , like a being made of all that’s pure in the universe. Like the one that saved them. Like he’d absorbed all that energy into himself and channeled it into something Steve could never have pictured in his wildest dreams, only it feels as real as his own heartbeat, flowing audibly through his veins.

 

The world is falling sideways. He’s aware that there are Asgardians with blankets on the shore with them, wrapping them both up, because they’re staring into each other’s eyes for some reason well beyond his comprehension. Steve isn’t sure when he got naked, but there’s not an ounce of shame in him now. All he knows is the sweetness of the moment, and that he never wants it to end.

 

***

 

The first thing Bucky thinks when he awakens is that the morning sun is so bright, he’s going to go blind with his damn eyes closed, and  _ why, Steve, why did I not end up in bed like a normal person? What the hell’d you get me into? _

 

His second thought is the realization that there is someone snuggled up against his back, spooning him. Maybe he did split up with Steve and ended up in some dame’s arms. He doesn’t remember.

 

He blows out a breath and then slowly stretches, opening his eyes with care so that he doesn’t actually blind himself. The Asgardian morning greets him, though he doesn’t recognize any of his surroundings. All he knows is that he’s lying in the middle of a bed of the brightest flowers he’s ever seen, a bed that seems to surround him and continues on in front of him for hundreds of feet. Beyond that is a forest with trees tall enough to take his breath away. Overwhelming and awe-inspiring, as with everything else in Asgard. 

 

Bucky feels more peaceful than he has in a long while, but his thoughts are still a bit muddled. There are so many holes in his memory from the evening prior. There had been… dancing. Drinking. Fighting? What had he done, though? His muscles are pleasantly sore from neck to toes, like he’d been in a good tussle and gotten away injury-free. The way he sometimes feels when he and Steve wrestle in the gym at the Tower; it makes him want to be out in the field again, putting his skills to good use. Steve had certainly gotten him involved in  _ something _ .

 

Snatches of memory grudgingly swim to the surface, more tenacious than they’d been even after he escaped Hydra’s clutches. A… climbing wall covered in vines? People cheering? The sound of a waterfall and the surety he was drowning...

 

What did he _ do _ last night?

 

The shape behind Bucky shifts and breathes in a loud lungful of air. He turns over to get a good look at his sleeping partner, hoping to jar loose some more memories, but when he catches sight of who’s there, he nearly jumps out of his skin trying to disengage. 

 

_ “Steve?”  _

 

“... Bucky?” 

 

Steve covers his eyes with a hand, squinting to see who had just literally jumped out of his arms. 

 

“What are you… why… wait, no. Hang on a second.”

 

“Hang on?” Bucky asks in a panic. “Hang on to what? Steve, what the hell did we do last night?”

 

“I don’t know, Buck. Also, you’re, uh… um.” Steve’s turned bright red and is waving in the general direction of Bucky’s… oh, yeah, okay. Bucky’s naked and sporting his normal share of morning wood, which is not unsubstantial. 

 

He covers himself, but feels slightly foolish doing so. Because… because something important happened… he’s just not sure what. Then a memory pops into his head as if of its own accord -

 

_ A body - Steve’s body - writhing underneath him in the throes of passion, gasping Bucky, Bucky, Bucky while Bucky bounces up and down on his cock _

 

“Oh, god. Oh my god,” he says, incapable of saying anything else. “Oh, god.”

 

“What?” Steve asks, confused. “Do you know what’s going on?”

 

“Uh… do you?”

 

Steve gives him an exasperated look, then waves toward his junk again as if to say  _ please, cover that up _ , only Bucky wants to burst into hysterics and tell him,  _ ain’t a point to that, pal, you’ve done more than just see ‘em. _

 

Belatedly, he realizes that Steve is also naked, and gives him a pointed look.  _ Cover your shit too, you damn hypocrite.  _ Though there’s not much point in that, either. Bucky remembers - vividly - just what Steve tastes like.

 

“Obviously not, or I wouldn’t be asking you. And there’s a lot of puzzle pieces to figure out here.”

 

_ Steve’s mouth, his fucking delectable mouth, suckling on his inner thighs, running his nails all over Bucky’s sensitive skin, making him shiver and shudder and whine, begging for more _

 

“Uh… Yeah. Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

 

“You don’t look so good, pal,” Steve tells him. “Sit back down with me. We’ll figure out what’s going on.”

 

_ Steve’s tongue on his cock, laying flat against the slit as he laps at the precome gathered there, and God, but Bucky’s fucking dying _

 

All at once, Bucky doesn’t know what to do. Does he run in the opposite direction and never look back? Become a wild-ass mountain man and learn to hunt the beasts of Asgard, never to be seen again? Does he lie down next to Steve and curl into his warmth like he’s been wanting to do since he was twelve years old? 

 

Does he continue to stand here looking like a deer caught in headlights?

 

That seems to be the correct answer, since his legs are apparently incapable of moving an inch. His mouth is permanently agape now, might as well be catching flies with it. Do something useful for once in his goddamn life. And Steve’s just staring at him like he’s a new species of insect himself, confusing and weird, but kinda cool if you squint and move your head sideways.

 

_ Bucky’s legs over Steve’s shoulders while Steve’s face is buried in his ass, tongue opening him up slow and soft and sensual like ass-eating is the most romantic thing ever invented _

 

_ Yeah, wow, okay. What the fuck. _

 

He doesn’t realize he’s saying it out loud until Steve’s standing next to him with one big paw on his bicep, pushing him to a sitting position on the ground where he rocks back and forth like a mental patient in the asylum. Steve’s gentle voice floats through to him as if from a distance:  _ Bucky? Buck, you okay? _ but it’s not like he can answer that  _ oh yeah, sure, everything’s peachy keen, buddy, because I apparently rode my best friend like a wild fucking stallion all night - _

 

Then another memory pops into his brain with the force of a flash-bang grenade, and that’s it, he’s done, no more. He doesn’t want to know any more. He is seventy years too old for this shit,  _ eat that, Murtaugh.  _

 

_ Steve wouldn’t even get that reference _ , he thinks hysterically.

 

Steve, his best friend who he apparently  _ rode off into the sunset _ , is now worried and exasperated and a million forms of sadness that never seem to leave his angelic face. Did he used to be sad like that? Bucky’s pretty sure that’s not the case. And he’d thought those cares had lifted the night before, but maybe that was the drugs. Definitely was the drugs, because what they did… Steve surely never would have done those things sober.

 

_ Closing his eyes, head falling back as the world tilts, languidly rolling his hips down into Steve’s, then opening an eye to see Natasha in the crowd with her tongue between her teeth and wearing the most predatory grin he’s ever seen, Barton and Wilson and Tony behind her _

 

Jesus. 

 

_ Jesus. _

 

They fucked in front of all of Asgard. 

 

_ And their friends.  _

 

Bucky’s hyperventilating, he knows, trying to suck in air faster than he can get rid of it, and he’d like to answer Steve’s increasingly fevered pleas, he really would, but how does he even do that? How does Bucky explain to Steve that they not only fucked, but did so in front of who-knows-how-many people, including their own  _ team? _

 

Finally, his heart rate settles and he can breathe again, pulling in air like it’s going out of style, feelin’ like fourteen-year-old Steve Rogers, only it’s  _ him _ , it’s Bucky who’s crushed up against Steve’s massive chest, not the other way around. It’s Bucky who’s got Steve whispering  _ shhh, it’s okay, it’s gonna be okay _ in his ear. 

 

_ Steve’s finally had enough of the teasing; he’s flipping them over like Bucky weighs next to nothing, and sliding back in like it’s where he belongs, and it is, god, it is where he belongs, it always has been _

 

“Oh, god,” Bucky whispers again, spent. 

 

Now that the roaring in his ears has quieted, it seems preternaturally silent in the warm Asgardian air. He takes another deep breath, getting hints of… hyacinth, rose, Steve’s musky but clean sweat… and he knows, intimately, what that scent entails; Steve was not the only one who’d had his face buried in someone’s ass last night, after all.

 

“Do you really not remember?” Bucky finally manages to get out.

 

Steve looks bewildered. “No, but I can’t deny feeling a bit worried. You look like you got hit by a quinjet.” He laughs weakly, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“Oh, no, no, no, honey. It just… caught me off guard. I’m not… unhappy. But you might be. You definitely will be, oh my god.” 

 

Bucky buries his face in his hands; he  _ does _ feel like shit. Not like he got hit by a quinjet, but rather by the Bad-News fairy, which is almost worse. He’s been in love with Steven Grant Rogers since he was old enough to understand the concept of love, maybe before, and now… now things are going to get ugly between them, because what kind of friendship can withstand this? Bucky’s tried so hard throughout the years to be good, to not show his true feelings to his best friend, going to bathhouses and less-than-savory areas of Bed-Stuy just so that he could avoid jumping little Stevie’s bones, avoiding an impossible confession and ruining everything he had. What are they going to do now?

 

“Jesus, Buck, whatever it is, it can’t be that bad, can it?”

 

“It was wonderful, Steve,” Bucky whispers. “I don’t think I can bear telling you, though.”

 

The words hit Steve like a slap. “What the hell does that mean?” he asks, bewildered and hurt.

 

“It means there’s a lot to talk about, but I don’t know how to start the conversation. I don’t… I can’t believe…  _ Jesus _ .”

 

“You keep saying that, and I’m gonna believe you’re talkin’ to me.”

 

“Ha ha, very funny.”

 

“Well, if you’re not going to start making sense any time soon, I’m gonna find someone who can explain things to me.”

 

“Yeah,” Bucky replies, numb to his toes. “I don’t have the full story, either, so we might as well.”

 

_ What full story do you even need, Barnes? You’ve got Steve’s come dripping down your thighs right now. There’s not much to tell. _

 

Naked, he follows his best friend listlessly through the garden and into the woods. Bucky has no idea where the hell they’re going, but Steve seems to have some sense of direction in this place, so Bucky trusts him to get them back to the city.

 

And, possibly, the end of their friendship.

 

***

 

Thankfully, it doesn’t take them long to find clothes. There is a rather large group of women handing them out to… other couples who are also coming in from the woods. Bucky would wonder  _ what the fuck happened _ for the umpteenth time, but those words are now permanently imprinted in his brain. There might as well be a huge neon sign flashing in his cerebral cortex.

 

“Friends!” Thor calls when they make it back to the city proper, now clothed in plush Asgardian robes. Bucky winces, but Steve marches up to the god and pats his shoulder. Bucky hangs back, not willing to listen to the conversation, not willing to see Steve’s eyes when he learns what they’ve done. But his damn serum-enhanced hearing doesn’t exactly let him get away with that. He hears everything anyway.

 

“Yeah, um…” Steve starts, and Bucky can hear the blush in his voice somehow. Even Steve’s  _ voice _ blushes.

 

_ His face, his ears, neck, shoulders, chest… all the way down to his groin, the blood rushes like he’s on fire, and boy, does Bucky feel it, too, he’s caught in it, caught up in the inferno of Steve’s hard length thrusting inside him _

 

“So…” Steve continues. Or tries to continue anyway. Several moments pass, Thor tilting his head in confusion, waiting for Steve to get on with it. Patient. Bucky’s not sure if he wants this moment over with, or if every second their friendship remains intact is unbelievably precious. 

 

Steve clears his throat, embarrassed to even admit to, presumably, how they woke up this morning… and how the hell did Steve fuck him in front of everybody if he can’t even say they woke up naked and wrapped around each other?

 

“Uh, let me just get this over with.”

 

“Of course, Captain. You can ask for whatever you need.”

 

“Okay. Alright.” Bucky’s pretty sure the slang word _ adorkable _ describes his - lover? - perfectly right now. “Yeah. So… Bucky and I woke up in a rather… precarious position this morning? We were, uh…” 

 

“In the meadow, yes?”

 

“Yes,” Steve says, sounding surprised. “How did you know?”

 

“It’s part of the ritual, of course.”

 

“Ritual?”

 

“Yes.”

 

_ We never should’ve come to Asgard, oh my god, _ Bucky thinks.  _ We got involved in some kind of ritual that involved us fucking in front of everybody. By accident. Who does that?  _

 

“What ritual?” Steve asks, bewilderment clear in his tone.

 

“The mating ritual, of course.”

 

Silence. Dead silence. 

 

Okay, Bucky has to see what’s going on. He  _ has _ to see Steve’s face right now. Despite himself, he moves forward and stands cautiously next to his best friend. Lover. Whatever. And - yep - Steve’s face is brilliant red, just like his ears and what Bucky can see of his neck. Just like he remembers. Vividly.

 

_ Steve pants, breath hot on Bucky’s face, as the rhythm of his hips speeds up, becoming erratic as he nears his climax, which Bucky’s already hit three or four times since Steve put his dick in him - god, the man sure does know how to fuck for a supposed virgin - _

 

“Uh…” Steve says eloquently.

 

“What Steve means to say is that he doesn’t remember a damn bit of what we did last night,” Bucky tells Thor in a subdued voice. “And I remember… things… but not why those things happened? So… if you could fill us in, that’d be great.”

 

“Oh! The drugs, of course! But wait a minute… you knew what the ritual was before you mounted the stairs, yes?”

 

_ Gallows. You mean mounted the gallows, friend-o. _

 

Bucky looks expectantly at Steve, since this was all his idea. Steve, still blushing, stares at his still-bare feet and mumbles something unintelligible.

 

“So you mean to tell me you didn’t know it was a mating ceremony?” Thor, at least, seems highly amused by this turn of events. “The drugs allowed the old gods, the ancient ones, to touch you - or you to touch them, I suppose. You risk your life to show your commitment to each other. On one hand, death awaits you. The other, however, leads you to celebrate your new marriage and the start of a lifetime together.”

 

Next to him, Steve actually  _ whimpers _ -

 

_ Steve’s whimpering - that strong, deep, masculine voice hitting a register Bucky’s never imagined as he starts to come, and come and come and come while he’s balls-deep inside Bucky’s ass _

 

Bucky swallows audibly, and Steve turns to look at him. “You really didn’t know?”

 

“No! I was following you, you mook!”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Steve admits, rubbing the back of his neck, “I guess this is kinda my fault, huh. Wait…” he says, turning to Thor, “Are you saying that Bucky and I… _ mated _ ?”

 

Thor laughs, loud and easy, carrying in the light breeze of a spring day. “Many times, my friend!”

 

Steve’s looking more and more horrified by the second, and Bucky wonders how in the hell he doesn’t remember any of this, considering the memories are now burned into Bucky’s subconscious forever.

 

“How do you know?” Steve whispers, already guessing the answer.

 

“The ritual is a public one. Held especially during the Festival. That’s where the Festival gets its name.”

 

Bucky would help poor Steve if he hadn’t been falling to the ground next to him. He’d figured that his memories were not false ones, but having it confirmed… how are either of them going to face each other now? And even worse, the team?

 

_ Bucky’s riding Steve again - the third or fourth time tonight, he thinks with what little brainpower is not devoted to abject lust - and he looks up, seeing the horror in Sam’s gaze, the curiosity in Vision’s eyes, and the huge grin on Clint’s face. He smiles at them, a smile of pure happiness _

 

“Um… uh,” Bucky tries, still not understanding anything that happened. “What was the point of the obstacle course? The competition.”

 

“It wasn’t a competition. You simply had to prove your worth as a team by passing the course.”

 

“But you told me it was a competition!” Steve says, bewildered and petulant as a toddler.

 

“Oh, no, you assumed that. I never said it was competitive, I promise you. I thought you knew! The two of you are obviously… well, obvious about how you feel about each other.”

 

Steve seems unable to answer that. It’s okay; Bucky has plenty more questions. “And the rest? The waterfall?”

 

“The old gods visited you. They smiled upon you, seeing that you were truly in love.”

 

“We’re not in love,” Steve says automatically, and Bucky winces. He knows it’s true, but that doesn’t make it hurt less.

 

“Were you not visited under the surface of the lake?” Thor asks knowingly.

 

Bucky doesn’t remember, but the look on Steve’s face says he clearly does.

 

“Yeah, so, uh… we’re married now, that’s what you’re telling us?” Bucky asks Thor as he wraps an arm around Steve, surprised the man is letting him.

 

“Indeed, you are. Congratulations!” 

 

Thor doesn’t seem to know how to read the room. Bucky’s obviously in shock, and Steve… Steve has his face buried in his hands, so Bucky has no idea what’s on his mind. He fears the worst, but the fact that Steve hasn’t pulled away is very telling. He feels a sliver of hope.

 

Suddenly, Steve gasps and doubles over. 

 

“You alright, pal?” Bucky asks.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, it’s just… I remember  _ something _ . I remember laying you down on an altar, disrobing you… kissing you, licking you, _ sucking _ you… holy... “

 

That seems to be all his best friend is capable of saying at the moment. Bucky knows the feeling.

 

“Can you give us a few minutes?” he asks Thor, who nods his assent.

 

They’re sitting on the ground, in the middle of a public square, while Steve rocks back and forth in an uncanny imitation of Bucky not that long ago. Bucky just keeps his arm around Steve, awkwardly patting his back. What other comfort can he really give? Steve just lost his virginity without even really having consented, though from what Bucky remembers, he sure seemed ready to go at the time.

 

“Please tell me this isn’t just something the drugs do,” Steve finally manages.

 

“I don’t know,” Bucky answers in a small voice. “You tell me.”

 

Steve turns to him and looks, really _ looks _ at him for the first time since he found out the truth. His eyes are contemplative, like he’s weighing Bucky’s worth. Bucky swallows but meets his gaze steadily. This is the moment of truth; he’ll finally find out if Steve feels anything close to what Bucky does for him.

 

“I don’t know, Buck,” Steve says. “I need a moment or two alone.”

 

Or not.

 

***

 

Barton finds him later, sitting contemplatively on one of those comfortable recliners he had been relaxing on before Steve had decided to get him into the dumbest shenanigans he’s ever been in… and that’s saying something, because Steve is the king of dumb ideas sometimes. At least when he’s not acting like a tactical genius. Bucky would think it’s because the serum needed some kind of balance, but Steve’s been getting Bucky into trouble all their lives. Nothing new.

 

Well,  _ this _ is something new. New levels of insanity. But at least they’re not married on Earth. Bucky wonders if there’s such a thing as divorce on Asgard.

 

“How’s it goin’, big guy?”

 

“I hope that’s not a dick joke,” Bucky tells Clint as he sits next to him.

 

“Ha! You wish. God, these things are comfortable. Wish I could take one home with me. I’d never get out of it.”

 

Bucky scoffs good-naturedly. “Then who would go chasing all the Russian tracksuits out of Bed-Stuy?” 

 

Clint ponders this for a moment, then concedes the point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Wouldn’t be right if I couldn’t protect the neighborhood.”

 

“You’re a strange man, Barton.”

 

“Right back atcha, Barnes.”

 

They sit in silence for several moments before Bucky brings up the hulking elephant in the plaza.

 

“Please don’t tell me you’re here to make fun of the fact that I fucked Steve in front of everybody and their mom last night.”

 

Clint grunts. “Technically, he fucked you, but no. That’s not why I’m here.”

 

Bucky lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. ‘Cause I don’t think I could handle that right now.”

 

“Things not all good in paradise?”

 

“You could say that.” 

 

“I hope you know Steve feels the same about you as you do him.”

 

Bucky sits up and eyes Clint incredulously. “The fuck did you just say?”

 

“You heard me,” Clint tells him, not at all concerned with Bucky’s distress.

 

“Then tell me why he ran away, if you’re so smart.”

 

“He went to Natasha, of course. The two of them, I swear, like two angry little peas in a pod. Anyway, it’s not a secret to the team. How the two of you feel about each other. It never has been.”

 

Is he actually hearing this? Is this happening? 

 

“Uh…” he says, the picture of eloquence. “And just how is that?”

 

_ Steve underneath him, above him, lying side by side as he kisses the back of Bucky’s neck and whispers in his ear, over and over again: I love you. I love you. I love you _

 

Clint gives him a knowing look. “I think you know, Barnes.”

 

Holy hell. Holy  _ hell. _ “It wasn’t just the drugs, was it? He… he does feel that way.”

 

“I’d bet my firstborn on it, but since I ain’t exactly plannin’ on havin’ kids, you’ll just have to take my word.”

 

Bucky opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again. Stares. Looking at Barton, but remembering Steve -

 

_ The taste of his cock, thick and bitter with precome, sitting heavy on Bucky’s tongue, and it wasn’t like he was a stranger to sucking cock, but this was Steve’s cock and that made all the difference _

 

Well, yeah. Remembering. 

 

Clint gives him a wicked grin and a wink. “Go get him, tiger.”

 

Bucky nods, making up his mind. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna do that.” 

 

It’s time they stop dancing around each other. 

 

***

 

The team’s all there when Bucky finds Steve in Thor’s spacious palace apartment. Even Clint is following him, grumbling about having to leave the damn chair behind so he can see the grand reunion.  _ How nosy are these people? _ Bucky asks himself, but he doesn’t really care right now, because there’s  _ Steve _ , and Steve is looking at him like… 

 

Like he’s just seeing Bucky for the first time in his life. Really, truly seeing him. Not that Steve hadn’t always been able to stare straight into Bucky’s very soul, weighing his worth (and somehow, to Bucky’s complete bafflement, finding it satisfactory), but this is different. There’s the echo of a revelation in Steve’s eyes. Bucky wonders what, exactly, Natasha had said to him, but he sends a silent message of thanks to her - not that she knows it, because Bucky’s eyes are all for Steve.

 

They stare at each other from across the room for entirely too long, the rest of the team doing their best not to be too obvious, chatting amongst themselves quietly, though Thor is beaming at the two of them like a proud parent. And maybe there is something to be proud of here, because through some weird fucking circumstances, the two of them have found each other. 

 

Finally, Bucky decides _ screw it _ and takes several steps forward. Steve swallows audibly and does the same, meeting him in the middle. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, an hour, a lifetime, who knows? Then, as if on cue, they lean in and their lips meet in a hesitant kiss. It’s chaste but full of promise; there’s a current running underneath it, the fireworks from the previous night ready to set them alight once more. Bucky leans in for another kiss, this one deeper, places his flesh hand at the nape of Steve’s neck and sucks at his bottom lip, silently asking permission. Steve obliges, and then their tongues are touching, tickling, tasting each other a little bit at a time. Bucky angles his head a little more to the side and licks into Steve’s mouth, remembering. It’s just like last night, drugs or no.

 

And the best part is, Steve seems to be feeling the same. 

 

They pull back when they’re out of breath, and Bucky looks behind Steve to see that the entire team is dead silent, every single one of them grinning from ear-to-ear. He rolls his eyes at them.

 

“Wanna go someplace private?” he asks under his breath.

 

Steve blushes that gorgeous shade of red again. Bucky’ll do whatever it takes to see that every single day of his life. 

 

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I would. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” He gives Bucky a shy smile and reaches his hand out. Bucky grabs it and pulls Steve along, not really caring where they’re going, just so long as it’s far away from these crazy voyeurs, who seem more than happy to watch their burgeoning relationship in whatever form it takes.

 

They find their way back to the meadow without really meaning to. It just feels right to Bucky, and Steve goes along willingly. They sit down next to each other, cross-legged in the field of flowers, and now it’s his turn to be shy.

 

“So,” he says finally, “your team. They seem to enjoy watching us, uh…”

 

Steve chuckles and ducks his head.  _ Christ _ , Bucky loves this guy so much it should be illegal, and now he can be honest about it. He doesn’t have to bury the secret in fear of losing their friendship. “To be fair, I didn’t know they were that way. And Thor says it’s… what, ‘in the air’ during the Festival. Whatever that means.”

 

“Y’know, you didn’t technically consent to what we did yesterday. Are you really okay with that?” Bucky asks worriedly.

 

“Bucky… I love you. It was weird, and not at all how I’d have imagined this to go, but I’d make love to you on international television just to show the world how much I love you.”

 

Bucky’s awestruck. It takes a few beats before he finds his voice. “You… you really mean that?”

 

“That I love you?”

 

He nods.

 

“I do,” Steve murmurs. “Of course, I didn’t realize it until today, because apparently I am ‘as emotionally constipated as a rock,’ as both Sam and Tony tell me, but yes.”

 

“I’ve loved you since we were teens. I loved you before I even knew what it meant.”

 

Steve turns to him, eyebrows raised in surprise. “You did? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

 

“Gee, I dunno, Steve, how many reasons you want me to give you? There’s about a billion. Starting with the fact that you didn’t love me back.”

 

“Maybe I did, though. I’ve never been that great at identifying feelings.”

 

“Except anger,” Bucky laughs. “And salt.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, wise guy.” Steve elbows him in the side before scooting closer and laying a head on his shoulder. “I could stay like this forever, you know.”

 

“We gonna get married in New York?”

 

Instead of laughing at him, Steve just makes a thoughtful sound and shrugs. “Do you want to?”

 

Yeah. Yeah, he does actually. “More than anything,” he whispers, kissing the top of Steve’s sun-kissed, golden hair. “But only if you do.”

 

“You actually proposin’ to me, Bucky Barnes?”

 

Bucky grabs hold of Steve and holds him as tight as he can. Steve’s real, here, in his arms, talking about getting married to him.  _ Really _ getting married to him, signed papers and everything. Had someone told him this was going to happen yesterday, he’d have laughed them all the way to the bank. 

 

_ What asshole was it that said you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take? _

 

“Yes. Marry me, Stevie.”

 

Steve clucks his tongue and sighs. “You know, I don’t know. I mean, I’m a pretty old-fashioned guy. Might need you to take me out on a date first, at  _ least _ one, before you get on your knee and ask properly.”

 

“Steve, you fucked me in front of a crowd of people yesterday. Clearly, the ‘old-fashioned’ ship has sailed off-planet.”

 

Steve laughs, wild and free, and it’s the most beautiful sound Bucky’s ever heard. “Yes,” he murmurs into Bucky’s armpit, like he’s shy. Adorable. Perfect. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

 

“And this time, our wedding night’ll just be the two of us, right?”

 

“Can you stop Nat from planting bugs on us at the wedding?”

 

Bucky smiles; he feels like the Bucky from 1940 for the first time in forever. “As if you have to ask.”

 

“Then yes. Just me and you.”

 

“To the end of the line, pal,” Bucky says, kissing Steve’s forehead again, breathing in his intoxicating scent. 

 

“To the end of the line,” Steve whispers back, and yeah. Bucky could get used to this. 

 

_ End of the line, Buck, god I love you so fucking much, whispered over and over again with hot breath on the soft skin of Bucky’s stomach _

 

_ Fuck _ , yeah, Bucky could get used to this.

  
  



End file.
